TY - JOUR N2 - A revision of the standard approach to characterization of thin-semiconductor-layer Hall samples has been proposed. Our results show that simple checking of I(V) curve linearity at room temperature might be insufficient for correct determination of bias conditions of a sample before measurements of Hall effect. It is caused by the nonlinear behaviour of electrical contact layers, which should be treated together with the tested layer a priori as a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure. Our approach was examined with a Be-doped p-type InAs epitaxial layer, with four gold contacts. Despite using full high-quality photolithography a significant asymmetry in maximum differential resistance (Rd) values and positions relative to zero voltage (or current) value was observed for different contacts. This suggests that such characterization should be performed before each high-precision magneto-transport measurement in order to optimize the bias conditions. L1 - http://journals.pan.pl/Content/110237/PDF/art_10.pdf L2 - http://journals.pan.pl/Content/110237 PY - 2019 IS - No 1 EP - 114 DO - 10.24425/mms.2019.126324 KW - metal contact KW - contact layer KW - contact resistance KW - Hall effect KW - resistivity KW - van der Pauw method KW - MSM structure KW - semiconductors’ characterization A1 - Kowalewski, Andrzej A1 - Wróbel, Jarosław A1 - Boguski, Jacek A1 - Gorczyca, Kinga A1 - Martyniuk, Piotr PB - Polish Academy of Sciences Committee on Metrology and Scientific Instrumentation VL - vol. 26 DA - 2019.04.01 T1 - Semiconductor contact layer characterization in a context of hall effect measurements SP - 109 UR - http://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/110237 T2 - Metrology and Measurement Systems ER -